Ben414

Having personally communicated with a HLS admissions staffer who recently left to go into law school admissions consulting and numerous HLS students, I can attest that HKS is absolutely, unequivocally more holistic in its admissions. I also never said that the numbers game is easier; in fact, I explicitly stated it was harder and used the example of "stellar" stats which makes it obvious I was talking about the very top test achievers. Regardless of whether it's merely more difficult or dramatically more difficult or whatever word we use, it is different. The main point of my post is to alert the OP that stellar stats does not guarantee admission to HKS whereas it basically does for all Ivy League law schools other than Yale and the Ivy-equivalent Stanford. He should be a strong candidate if he has or can get good, relevant work experience, but he can't count on GPA and test scores alone.

I disagree that top law schools are dramatically harder to get into than HKS. Cornell and Columbia are 90+% a numbers game. and even Harvard is probably 80+% a numbers game. If you have stellar stats (3.9+ GPA, 174+ LSAT), you probably have a 80+% of getting into Harvard regardless of the rest of your profile. If you have a 3.9 GPA and a 168/168 GRE, you're probably not getting into HKS if you don't have at least solid work experience. The admissions are different. I agree law school admissions are more difficult in general because they require much higher test scores, but it can depend on the individual applicant. I'm pointing this out because this person would be a very strong applicant if he can show that he has sufficient work/academic experience that can be relevant to his field of interest, and that last part is necessary.

Good to hear about the LORs; that should help your profile. As to whether you should retake the GRE, there are a number of factors: (1) How much studying do you think it would take to raise your quant to a 160? I'd recommend taking a look at the GRE section on this forum and see how others have improved their GRE. You might be able to notice a flaw in your study plan that you could easily correct, resulting in a better quant score without much additional studying; (2) From what I understand, the written portions of the application do matter for a MPP (unlike law school). Especially for someone coming right out of undergrad, a strong SOP may be crucial for getting into a top MPP program. I wouldn't recommend slacking on this, but maybe you could lessen your extracurricular time for a while to focus on both the application and GRE studying? If it were me, I'd slack a bit on my academics for a few weeks to focus on the application and GRE studying. Would you be able to do this without seeing a major adverse effect on your grades? I don't think it's great to do "menial work," but I do think schools would view professional, full-time work as showing some professional skills that are almost impossible to show at an internship. There is a higher accountability (e.g. you can be fired), you have to navigate the corporate structure (generally immune to this as an intern), and you have to do the job 40+ hours per week all year round. This may or may not be fair, but I think it happens to some degree. I think it will help that you have worked at the same place fairly continuously for 3 years, even if it wasn't full-time; it may be received more similarly to professional work. Just remember that the applicants you will be up against at HKS, WWS, and Goldman will be a lot better than an average applicant. Overall, IMO you have a chance at a top MPP program. However, I think this chance would be low without at least improved GRE scores to boost your profile.

I would say yes and to try improving your verbal a bit while simultaneously shooting for a 160 on the quantitative. While you have good work experience for someone coming out of undergrad, you have to remember you'll be up against people with 3-5+ years of work experience. Internships with a prestigious organization don't match up to full-time professional jobs with good organizations, even if their organizations aren't quite as prestigious. Likewise, LORs from well-known people will only matter insofar as they can personally attest to your skills. Although you may have gotten this in your internships, this is easier to get in a full-time professional job. You're going to need everything going for you if you want to go to an elite MPP program out of undergrad, and IMO your fringy GRE could hold you back.

I was tentatively thinking the same thing, but I wanted to hear if others agreed with me. It's helpful to hear it from someone else. As to the 'why now,' your mention of it is making me think more about it. I thought I had a pretty good answer, but now I'm thinking I need to really think this through. Even if I decide now isn't the right time, I can wait until a time where I can maximize my 2 years in the program. And I decide it is the right time, I should have a strong reason to tell admissions. Thanks for the response! And if anyone else wants to chip in their two cents, I'd still appreciate it.

I haven't heard anything back yet, so I'll give my post a bump. If you feel that you can only answer one of my questions, I'd still appreciate any help you can give! Let me know if you'd like for me to provide more details.

No, you'll be fine. Just realize that the GRE is used mostly as a cutoff for top clinical psych programs, so it will mostly come down to your research/publication experience and fit.

With additional studying, I think I could improve my score a couple of points in each section. However, I'm working full-time and hoping to find some substantive volunteer work soon, so my time is somewhat limited. My goal is to get into a top MPP program and to hopefully receive some funding. How would improving my score a couple of points in each section affect my chances of admission and my chances of receiving funding? Also, would I realistically have to wait a couple of years to get into a top MPP program with my following profile? To help you better understand my profile, I have a 3.7 GPA from a small liberal arts college. I interned at a state Senator's office the summer after my sophomore year and was a campaign manager for a state Senate campaign the summer after my junior year. After graduating in the spring, I am now working at a non-profit in the area of child welfare and will be the lead for running statewide programs in 2 states. I should have very strong LORs. Thanks for your help!